Darling You've Got Your Demons | Kaylor

twenty one

Taylor

The sound of the doorbell echoed through the house. I jumped up from the couch and sprinted to the door. It had been so long since I'd seen my little brother, and, despite his annoying ways, I really missed him. I pulled the door open and was immediately tackled into a hug.

"Teffy!"

"Austin!"

"I missed you!"

I stuck out my tongue at him. "I didn't," I said sarcastically.

He rolled his eyes, "Wow, I appreciate the warm welcome."

"And so it begins," Mom's voice came up from behind me.

As Austin and Mom began to talk, I introduced myself to Fernando, Austin's boyfriend. I didn't want to be too intimidating, but, of course, I didn't want Austin to get his heart broken. "Hey, I'm Taylor."

"Nice to finally meet you. I'm Fernando." Woah. Cute accent alert.

I smiled, "I'm liking the fedora thing you have going on."

Fernando giggled. I could tell he was slightly nervous. "Thanks. I wear it every day."

I raised my eyebrows. "That takes dedication." Mom soon swooped in and gave Fernando a bone-crushing hug, escorting him away from my watchful eyes. We walked into the living room and everyone grabbed another cookie. Karlie and Austin were talking and I was watching them through the corner of my eye as I discussed album plans with my dad. I saw Karlie throw her head back laughing, and I bit my lip to conceal my smile at her happiness.

"You really like her, huh," my dad said, his tone softening with the realization.

I smiled, not making eye contact. "Yeah, I really do."

Karlie

When Taylor was telling me about Austin, she failed to mention the abundance of video games he liked to play. The subject came up when he asked me about my job, and now we made our way up to his guest room, where he had an xbox and a playstation.

We decided to play The Walking Dead, something I could never play near Taylor because it was "too scary." Since it wasn't a multiplayer game, we both played, tossing the controller back and forth every few minutes. With the familiar controller in my hands and a game on the screen, it felt much easier to open up. "Have you ever played Undertale?"

He grunted, trying to hit his target. "I haven't, but I know the basic game structure." He released the trigger, and the zombie dropped to the ground.

"That's similar to what we're going for at work. It's still in the very beginning stages, but we're actually way ahead of schedule, considering that there are literally six of us," I explained.

Austin nodded. "That is so cool. I wish I had that kind of opportunity. I can't wait until it's finished." We sat in silence for a few eventful minutes. "Karlie?"

"Yeah?" My eyes trained on the screen, I prepared for the jump scare.

He flinched slightly, as a zombie suddenly popped out from behind a tree. "Just curious: how did you get into gaming?"

Shrugging, I attacked the guy on the screen. "No idea. I have three sisters, and they all hate it. I...I didn't really have many friends in school, and I sort of turned to the internet instead. And then gaming. It's kind of a way to drown out the world sometimes, but you also meet so many awesome people through it, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I totally get what you mean. Fernando hates it as much as Taylor does, so I guess me and you need to hang out more often."

I couldn't help the grin that spread across my face. "So I guess we're friends, then."

"Yeah, we're friends," he chuckled, "Be warned, if you break my sister's heart bad things will happen to you and you'll turn into a frog or some weird shit." He paused. "But, between you and I, you're my favorite out of all of the people she's dated. Everyone else kind of just treated me as the cute little brother. You actually respect me."

●●●○○○●●●

After Austin and I had been playing for around an hour, Taylor finally figured out where we were and what we were doing. She roped me into helping her make dinner, and I reluctantly left the safe haven of Austin's dark room. Music was playing downstairs, and light and laughter was apparent. I had no idea where anything was, so I followed Taylor around the mansion like a lost puppy as she led me to the kitchen.

"So, I was thinking we could just do pasta?" she asked, tying her short hair back into a ponytail.

I nodded. "I'll make the sauce." Taylor smiled, and we got to work.

My movements around her seemed clumsy at first as I figured out where things were. Once I established where everything was, we fell into our familiar dance around the kitchen, anticipating each other's movements and helping the other while simultaneously staying out of their way. I hadn't realized the amount of time we spent in the kitchen together until now, and was suddenly made aware of the domestic nature of our relationship.

I never thought of myself as one to settle down, but now I couldn't help but imagine what life would be like if Taylor and I did. Would we have children? Would we move to a suburban neighborhood? Would we buy a minivan?

Taylor snuck her finger into the sauce and tasted it, removing me from my thoughts. "Your sauce is like my favorite thing ever," she said, twirling away to the chorus of a song.

I smirked, "You just contaminated the sauce! What if you have the plague?"

Taylor rolled her eyes and flipped me off as she returned to chopping vegetables for the salad. Checking to see that we weren't being watched from the corner of my eye, I slid over to her and hugged her from behind, setting my hands lightly on her hips.

She turned so that we were face to face, and leaned back slightly against the counter. My heart skipped a beat as she pressed her lips to mine. Taylor's tongue slipped into my mouth, and her hands moved lower so that they rested on my ass. It couldn't have been more than ten seconds before I heard footsteps making their way into the kitchen.

I pulled away to see Andrea getting plates out from a drawer. Taylor pouted, "Why did you stop?"

"Um, maybe because you mother is literally right there."

She sighed, giggling a little, "I've done way worse than that in my parent's house before you know." Then, turning to Andrea, "Sorry, Mom."

"What, you think I didn't know about all the dick you were getting as a teenager?"

My mouth dropped open.

Taylor shrugged, "It wasn't just dick."

Andrea nodded, crossing the room. She covered my ears with her hands playfully. "I don't think this one wants to hear about that." We continued with our playful banter, laughing loudly, and I could feel myself opening up. I felt happy here. I felt safe here.